Holy Grail
by a warrior queen
Summary: This is my family. I found it all on my own. It's little and broken but still good. Yeah, still good. —Team Seven.


holy  
grail.

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He didn't know what he was expecting to happen once the world stopped spinning and the life of everyone he knew wasn't in danger anymore. He figured he expected a lot of blood, a lot of downtime, maybe a thorough conversation with certain people here and there but… But he certainly hadn't expected to be rejected.

Naruto supposed it was going to happen, just that he was way too optimistic to even admit it to himself.

It made sense, he supposed—in real life matters, not the peaceful world he tended to live on, in his head.

It made sense that Sakura had been stiff, her eyes still bruised and her skin still pale and that violet-red diamond on her forehead so striking that it took Naruto a double-take to realize what it was and what it meant. And he supposed it made sense that Sasuke hadn't even been given a chance to reply before he was escorted away by Kakashi and Sai, heading straight to the Hokage Tower where he no doubt would then be transferred to the interrogation building.

And then it was just him, standing in the streets of home, trying to figure out what to do because there was nothing _to do_.

What can you do when it feels like you've done absolutely everything that could be done in a life time?

He just saved the world, he witnessed so many friends die and he fought side by side with his dead father.

What's there to do now?

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his messy spikes and began to make his way to the dingy apartment he called home.

The waves and the calls and the happy grins were a bit overwhelming; it took Naruto a few tries to figure out if it was because he wasn't used to them or because he was far too somber to soak it all in, but even after pondering about it he had absolutely no clue what it was that weighed him down. So he walked and half-grinned at the elderly people and chuckled at the little kids and only sort of fist pumped when a crowd would cheer, here and there.

How could he be a hero if he couldn't even save his own friends?

And it wasn't the conventional saving, either. No one was in any physical danger; just phantasms of ghosts' past dressed in actions that were taken while not in the right state of mind and choking grips that fit to the situation in more ways than one. But he had thought it'd all be okay after that feeling—so powerful he felt his bones suck it up and disperse through his system and making him feel ten times stronger and…

Had he been the only one that felt it?

That feeling of being rejuvenated because all the missing pieces fell into place and it'd been everything they were aiming for—Team Seven, back in action, taking prisoners and making their mark.

Had he been the only one that felt it?

He supposed it made sense, though; he'd always been the more optimistic one of the bunch.

Not Sakura and her bright smiles and her ability to conquer all her failures and make them her own, not Sasuke with all the demons dancing in his eyes and definitely not Sai and his inability to even understand what he got himself into by worming his way into such a cursed team.

Naruto threw the door to his apartment open, blue eyes drinking in how clean it was and half smiling in appreciation at the land-lady's troubles. He threw himself onto his bed, breathing in the scent of cheap detergent and even cheaper softener. He smiled, dazedly and figured it would all take time.

They all stood on uneven grounds and until it all settled down… He'd wait for it, for sure. It'd happen. It had to.

With that, he fell asleep.

* * *

It's not that she was… _afraid_ or anything like that.

It was more the dire need to sit and grab her bearings, pick up her cards and put them in order before setting them down on the table again. There were a million and one things going through her mind that she needed to attend to and Sakura was just one person and she needed _time._

Her chest hurt and her mind hurt and her core hurt because she felt like she was being unfair to absolutely everyone but she couldn't even _look_ at Sasuke without feeling like she was losing her ability to breathe because at any second he could turn his back and leave again (at any second he could snap and succeed into choking her to death), at any moment Naruto could go off and proclaim about dying along with Sasuke and at any moment Sai could read her better than she could ever read herself.

She needed space and time and she had to disregard Naruto's disappointed face at the declination of a reunion at Ichiraku's because he had to _understand_ that she was only human and had things to work out, in her head.

Sakura saw into Naruto's very soul, out there, and it had been the most hauntingly wonderful experience ever—to see his darkness and his triumphs and his hesitance and his pure will to save everyone. And… And… Sakura couldn't _be_ like that! She couldn't turn a blind's eye no matter how much she would have liked to because despite the beautiful feeling of seeing Sasuke come back to fight on their side, have as much to do in the world's saving as Naruto did…

It was still _too soon_.

Jumping in front of her as her own human shield against the smaller Juubi had cancelled out his murder attempts but it didn't cancel out the ghost of his grip around her windpipe or the completely lost and manic look in his eyes. Sakura wasn't unfair; she had as much fault in that situation as he did but she was only human and she was… She was wary.

Not afraid, of course, just wary.

Just wary, she reminded herself as she curled into a ball at the far corner of her room, pretending she couldn't hear her parents prepare a meal for her return—clueless that she was already there and just hiding in the shadows, trying to make sense to the voices inside her head and the feeling in her chest.

Is love still love if you don't trust the one you love?

* * *

"Sit."

He did so, sighing and tilting his head to the side, forelocks shadowing his eyes and lips pressed into a thin line. The sun was still out and it illuminated the Hokage's office fiercely, it bothered his eyes and it annoyed him to the point where he could feel his blood bubble under his skin. He blamed it on the lack of sleep, though—you can't really rest properly with so many eyes on you, after all.

Sasuke sighed, looking down at the chains around his wrists and pretending he could see the way they ate at his chakra.

Such was the price of an international criminal! Such a feat, he mocked and he couldn't help but smirk sarcastically at himself. A whole record soiled because of disgusting lies; what else was there to ruin? His life was ruined, his record was ruined, he had trust issues and he felt like he hated the very soil this village was built on.

But at least Sasuke was sane enough, now, to understand that it wasn't the village so much as the people working in the shadows and he needed justice—he would not rest, his demons would not shut up until his family was justified.

He lifted his eyes and locked them with the Hokage's.

(Vaguely, he remembered this woman because she had been the reason he woke from his coma after going through Tsukuyomi for the second time in his life, years ago. But had it really been years ago? How long had it been, how fast does time fly—Sasuke stopped the thoughts before they expanded.)

"Uchiha Sasuke."

He swallowed, ignoring Kakashi and Sai standing on their side of him.

"Not that we aren't grateful for your contribution to the Alliance's victory," she drawled, "But I must know what your reasons are—any hidden motives, I mean."

"No," he replied.

"No?"

He shook his head. "I've learned the truth about everything, you see, and at the very end I couldn't possibly allow my brother's sacrifice to be in vain."

Sasuke was surely deciding that his brother was sadistic. He loved him and he would forgive and do what is just in his name but that didn't cancel out the fact that his brother was sadistic. Sasuke was trying to see the shades of gray in life and Itachi was everything but a saint.

"What are you talking about, Uchiha?"

He didn't open his mouth, settling for looking away because speaking about it nonchalantly was out of the question; the very thought made the familiar feeling of rage manifest itself in his chest and Sasuke was a very complicated person; ten million issues, ten million demons and always being pushed and guided by the dead clansmen hovering over his back.

He wanted rest, at the end of it all.

He wanted everything to be done because he was _tired_ and he wanted to close his eyes and breathe—stop being angry for five minutes so he could remember what it felt like to have the grass feather his skin as he lied back and stared at the stupid blue sky. He didn't remember any of that because he was so consumed by fury; he stopped wanting to watch the world burn but the _anger_ was still there and how could he make it go away?

"Take him to an interrogation room," the Hokage said, steadily. "I will be there in fifteen minutes."

* * *

Sai pondered as he stood outside Interrogation Room number forty-nine. The hall was damp and dimly lit and the concrete with steel accentuation gave it an overly gloomy ambiance but then again… It _was_ a building used to interrogate enemies.

Which made Sai wonder a lot about the man—were they men, now, after going to war and coming back?—on the other side of the door he was guarding. Was he really an enemy, anymore? He didn't know a single thing about Sasuke other than what he'd heard and the few things he witnessed so a lot of everything cancelled each other out. He was… What was he?

Sai tilted his head, slowly turning to peer into the room through the small window in the middle of the steel door.

"Is Sasuke-san an enemy?"

Surely Kakashi would know; he was, after all, his sensei and knew Sasuke when he was younger.

"We'll just have to see," Kakashi replied, his tone still as cryptic and cheery as when Sai had first met him.

Sai turned towards him and observed as he read his little orange book, one hand stuffed in the pocket of his nin-pants and he had to wonder why he looked so laid back when his student was on the other side of the door, about to be interrogated by the Hokage herself. Sasuke was an international criminal that almost sacrificed his life to help the Shinobi World from sinking into the grip of Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Madara.

Where did one lie, when such things weighed heavily on their name?

"You don't sound at all worried or confident," Sai murmured, turning to face the wall in front of them, again. "Don't you have any feelings for your student?"

"Well," Kakashi replied, as if expecting Sai's questions. "I am a shinobi and I shouldn't allow my personal feelings to cloud my judgment."

Sai remained quiet after that.

Naruto and Sakura allowed their personal feelings to always cloud their judgment, he pondered. This entire thing with feelings and friendships and bonds was tiresome. So confusing—Sai was always getting mixed signals and he always ended up being wrong. But Shin had smiled at him and the burst of inexplicable anger he'd felt in that war… He felt human. And he felt more like it whenever he was with Team Seven and he wanted to so desperately continue being a part of that.

And for that to happen he had to understand Uchiha Sasuke.

But how could he do that?

"What do you think, Sai?"

Asking him for his own opinion? A member of Team Seven or not, Sai had always felt like he had absolutely no say when it came down to the troubled—original—third member of the team. At least, that was the clear signal he had gotten all those months ago, when Sakura punched him for badmouthing Sasuke.

What could he possibly reply, he wondered. He felt threatened and relieved all in one because to have Sasuke back was to be endangered of going back to how life used to be. But it also meant that Naruto would be okay and that Sakura would be okay and that was really important.

Naruto talked a lot about precious people.

Sai was beginning to feel like Team Seven were _his_ precious people, too.

"Naruto would say he's our friend." Sai looked down at the ground and furrowed his brow. "I wish to trust that judgment."

* * *

Konoha welcomed back its children with a warm sun and a soft breeze. The rustle of the leaves and shrubs as the wind blew to and fro was soft and hypnotic; it sent shivers up and down the spine of those that heard it, a soothing song that reminded them autumn was coming soon. Life settled back into place, the villagers continue to buzz through the streets, going through their daily tasks, children laughed and played and returned to the Academy and shinobi returned to active duty.

There was no trial for Sasuke because there was simply no time for it and after everything he muttered through his teeth to the Hokage in addition to his part in winning the war, whatever sentence that he could have landed with was lightened. In the end, Sasuke was given an indefinite amount of time with probation, inability to be an active shinobi, and round-about surveillance with the orders to incapacitate him if he ever snapped and became a threat to the village.

It was slow and it was hard.

Sasuke was fine with it, though; he needed all the time he could get to think and remember things about himself he had long forgotten.

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**Notes:** New story, meet readers; readers, meet new story. It's nothing serious and it has no plot; in fact, it's just me trying this slice of life thing again and because I wanted to write something with Team Seven acknowledging all the damage they've done to each other and realistically healing from it.

Drop a line, why don't ya (:


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